From Down Under to The Underworld

Much has happened since last we spoke...

Ruts D.C. played five shows in Germany - after an inauspicious start that involved what might politely be described as 'total chaos' at Gatwick Airport we arrived in Berlin to find that our baggage hadn't made it across and so played at SO36 using borrowed guitars (amazing work by all at Muttis in getting this all together) and even though I say so myself, played it rather well. Instruments arrived next morning along with my clothes and effects pedals although Segs's stuff was sadly still back in Blighty so after a bit of shopping on his behalf we carried on to Hannover and Hamburg before heading to Magdeburg and Flensburg for arena shows supporting Die Toten Hosen. These were every bit as extraordinary as we were hoping that they would be - as always the scribbly notes were made on the way round so more words on the subject will hopefully (possibly?!) appear here before too long, but in the meantime the band and indeed my Facebook pages were updated regularly so there's more of the story there if you're interested.

After arriving home on Wednesday afternoon it was straight back to basics for your humble narrator with a day in Balcony Shirts yesterday; I'll be with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks tonight at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth (we played in front of over 5,000 people on Tuesday night - I wonder how many will be there tonight?) before Ruts D.C. play The Camden Rocks Festival tomorrow night. We're on at The Underworld at 7.30 - that's a good spot isn't it?

And talking of good spots, we're supporting The Stranglers in Australia and New Zealand next February! Oh yes!

Ireland life, Ireland live

Friday 13th January at 10.10 am, in seat 22c on Aer Lingus flight E1233 not long after take off from Gatwick Airport

I don't think that I've been in a plane that's taken off through snow before. Hmm... no, I'd remember wouldn't I? It was a good deal bumpier than I would have liked, but we're up in blue skies now thank gawd.

I really liked this poster!

Neither The Ruts or Ruts DC ever played in Ireland back in the day so tonight's show at The Voodoo Lounge in Dublin is definitely something of an event. Well, it certainly is for me - I first went to Dublin in 2001 with Neck and have played there a fair few times since then although not for quite a while so it'll be good to play there tonight.
Since last we spoke there have been no gigs for your humble narrator, although since I've not been feeling 100% fit lately that for once hasn't been a particularly bad thing. That said I have been to see a few bands - I kinda think that if you're not out playing then it's good to be out watching some one who is, if only to support the venue that putting live music on. Does that sound self-righteous? It's not supposed to, although maybe it does, or indeed is... anyway The Bluerays played at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth last Friday, and very good they were too - with Chris Hunt on drums the band offered up a good selection of cover songs (some obvious, some not-so-straightforward) to the appreciation of the good-sized audience. And it was great to catch up with Chris and to see him behind the kit, I've played here and there with him over the years and he's always excellent.
The now-annual Resolution Festival has been happening at The 100 Club - I've been to less shows than I'd have liked this year but was very pleased to catch a blistering performance by T.V. Smith and The Bored Teenagers on Sunday (sadly a tube strike meant that there were less punters than predicted but 'twas nevertheless a fabulous show) and an excellent show by The Sex Pistols Experience on Tuesday. 
In the meantime Britain is falling apart due to cold temperatures and the afore-mentioned snow - isn't this sort of thing supposed to happen in winter? Ah well - at least we're good at falling apart... anyway it was an early start so it's time to attempt a snooze...

Saturday 14th January at 1.15 pm on the road between Dublin and Belfast

Did you see what I did there? 'On The Road'. I always wanted to say or indeed write that, I sound just like Jack Kerouac don't I? Either that or I sound like a sad and lonely middle-aged man desperately trying to make his life sound more interesting and indeed romantic than it actually is. 
Well it's difficult to think how last night's gig could have gone any better than it did, although when we abandoned our soundcheck as none of us could hear what any of us was playing in didn't necessarily look as though a good night was in prospect. 'Don't worry' said Bob our soundman, 'it'll sound fine when there's a few people in here'. I've heard that a few ti...

4.00 pm in Room 315 at The Ramada Encore Hotel in Belfast

...at which point my pen ran out. Bugger!

As I was saying - the 'it'll sound fine when...' clause gets used by soundmen the World over with varying degrees of success, either because nobody turns up to watch the gig or because loads of people turn up and it still sounds awful. Happily this time Bob was proved to be correct as the place was pretty much full when we went on and the sound did indeed dramatically improve. It's good when that happens... with an audience that could politely be described as 'enthusiastic' the show went from good to great in no time at all - as our new friend John put it after the show, '2017 started here tonight'. Support came from local heroes Paranoid Visions who were probably the best that I've ever seen them which made it a cracking night all round. Hopefully we're in for another good one tonight - promoter Seamie used to play drums in The Bankrobbers who I remember seeing way back in 1981 supporting, of all people, Ruts DC. And if that's not a good omen then I don't know what is!

Sunday 15th January at 9.42 am in the same hotel room

Ooo my 'ead 'urts. Still I've only got myself to blame. As always. Well, that and the drinking. 

Breakfast I think...

4.14 pm in seat 18C on Flight EZY844 not long after take off from Belfast Airport 

Worrying. Very worrying. Well I think that it is. Well, it is isn't it? How much better an alcoholic drink makes you feel sometimes, especially when you've had rather a lot of them the night before. Maybe I shouldn't be saying that here. Maybe I shouldn't be saying it at all. Ah well - I just have. 
It was a long, long night, but a good one. If I'm honest (and I always try to be - don't you?) I'd have to say that we might have played a bit better the night before but not by much, although the sound seemed to be a bit better in Dublin (which is rather ironic if you think about it given how our soundcheck had gone) which resulted in me missing a couple of cues and accents in songs. Excuses excuses... maybe I'm being a bit over-critical as the audience loved it but you have to keep standards up don't you? Well, I think that you do. The Black Box Theatre seems to put on a lot of very diverse entertainment, and it's great to see such a good venue doing so well - and it was great to see my old mate John Ford who now lives nearby, and I must mention that Stop Stop Start Again provided splendid support too. Another roaringly good evening or indeed weekend - and there's another in prospect next week when we play The Ruhrpott Ska Explosion Festival in Dortmund. Excellent. 
Time for another snooze...

Tuesday 17th January at 2.37 pm, back in Blighty and at home

Somehow - and I for one am not sure how, given how knackered I was - I went to see The Lurkers playing the last night of The Resolution Festival on the way home from the airport. Strange but true. And if you're interested both the Stop Stop Start Again and Ruts D.C. shows are now on YouTube and can be seen here by clicking on the band names in this sentence. See what you think!

Theatre of the absurd

Well time has been even tighter in these here parts over the last couple of weeks, hence the complete lack of blogging. How on Earth did I ever have chance to do several posts a month? It's been hard enough to find a few minutes to update my Facebook page, let alone write this stuff… we're still busy in Balcony Shirts - this is my only day off this week, hence the chance to attempt a quick posting now - and I've been gigging with The Upper Cut (a particularly riotous night at The Dolphin a week-and-a-half ago) and Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks (at The Three Wishes in Harrow and The Horns in Watford the weekend before last) so it's perhaps not surprising that I feel as though I've done nothing but work these days. And Ruts D.C. appeared at The Know The Future Festival in Vienne, France on the Saturday just gone - we'd not played for a while but put in a good performance alongside the likes of The Damned, The U.K. Subs and The Vibrators. The event took place at The Theatre Antique, a Roman amphitheatre which had to be seen to be believed - I've certainly never played anywhere like it before. The slightly peculiar travel arrangements meant that we flew out from Luton Airport on Friday lunchtime and returned home to Gatwick Airport in the early hours of Sunday morning - I got back home just in time to do an actual birthday gig (as opposed to The Upper Cut Uxbridge show the week before, which I played as an early birthday bash) with Big Al and the boys that afternoon at The White Horse near Staines. I'm still feeling tired now… more gigs this weekend, then it's off to The Rebellion Festival next week. No rest for the wicked, or indeed for me. 

Incidentally the always-excellent Aural Sculptors blog has just posted an audio recording of our set in Vienne, which you can download by clicking here. Enjoy!